Holy Week is hard, especially for tired parents. Here’s why you should do your best to make the most of this important week. But first, a story: Last year, during Holy Week, our kids had come down with a bug. It wasn’t too serious – fevers for a day or two, followed by nausea and an upset tummy. Dave and I decided it was best to keep the kids home, but since the adults were “asymptomatic,” we still wanted to attend SOME of the Holy Week liturgies, albeit at the lesser-attended nearby parishes, and with an abundance of hand sanitizer and distance. As I was getting ready for Mass on Holy Thursd ..read more

Our friend, Fr. Peregrine wrote and illustrated this precious book! *This post contains links to EWTN Religious Catalogue. I do not receive commission for using this link or for sales generated from this link. *This post does not contain affiliate links and is not a paid promotion or ad. There are countless children’s stories out there. Why should we care so much about exposing our kids to the stories of the saints? Well, I’m going to use St. Philomena (the story, as told by Fr. Peregrine Fletcher) to make a few points: They’re genuinely good stories. St. Philomena was a Greek princess who w ..read more

*This post does not contain affiliate links and is not a paid promotion or ad. When Fr. Peregrine Fletcher, O. Praem. sent our family a complimentary preview copy of “The Snail and the King,” we immediately fell in love with it! The book’s official release is March 19, and you can pre-order now to get it in time for Easter. And, while there are countless parent influencers on social media who make money off affiliate links and ads, I am not getting paid to tell you, parent to parent, that this book is a gem, and makes a perfect gift for your kids’ Easter baskets – or for birthdays – or baptis ..read more

St. Therese of Lisieux – Wikimedia Commons He . . . gave me to understand that my own glory wouldn’t be apparent to mortal eyes, that it would consist in becoming a great Saint! . . . This desire might seem foolhardy if one were to consider how weak and imperfect I was, and how much I still am after seven years spent in the religious life, but nonetheless I still feel the same audacious confidence that I’ll become a great Saint. That’s because I’m not counting on my merits, since I have none, but I hope in the One who is Virtue and Holiness Itself. —St. Thérèse of Lisieux* When children are in ..read more

St. Martin de Porres – <a href="http://CAMILOFORE2, CC BY-SA 4.0 Wikimedia Commons Everything, even sweeping, scraping vegetables, weeding a garden, and waiting on the sick could be a prayer, if it were offered to God. —Said of St. Martin de Porres* As parents with young children, we always have dishes to wash, loads of laundry to do, and floors to sweep and mop. In my house, crumbs seem to grow up from the floorboards; even after I sweep, there is always something on the floor! We have shelves to dust, decluttering to do, and toys to put away. No wonder we’re tired parents! Cleaning up af ..read more

The St. Michael portrait that hangs in our living room. We love having holy reminders of our heavenly protectors! The battle against the devil, which is the principal task of St. Michael the Archangel, is still being fought today because the devil is still alive and active in the world. —Pope St. John Paul II In our home, the archangel whose intercession we most frequently implore is St. Michael, through the familiar prayer to him. The presence of evil in the world is palpable. It’s as though the devil enjoys rearing his ugly head because he knows sin is glorified by our society. You can under ..read more

Jesus is the “True Gift of Christmas.” Here are some practical ways to help this truth come alive for your family! There are only a few certain things in life – death, taxes, and Christmas falling on December 25 every year. I’m mostly joking. People have figured out ways to bypass taxes. But Christmas will ALWAYS be on December 25. It shouldn’t come as a surprise to us when the holiday season rolls around at the same time every year – even when it seems like retailers are putting out Christmas decorations earlier and earlier. Knowing the Advent and Christmas seasons are approaching in the next ..read more

August 22, 2015 (Jill Copeland Photography) Happy 8th Anniversary, Dave! On August 13, 2014, Dave drove from Ohio to Alabama (getting a speeding ticket along the way!) to ask me to marry him. When he proposed, he gave me two gifts. The first, of course, was the ring. The second was a home study kit to help me repay tens of thousands of dollars of student debt I accrued while trying to “do it all” in college. I know—he’s super romantic. The kit contained a set of DVD courses with a companion workbook, a memoir from the financial guru who compiled the course, various worksheets, and a progress c ..read more

Fr. Sam and Paola, hosts of the Roar Like the Lamb podcast, are not parents. They’re not even married. So what do THEY know about marriage and family life? Well, as a pastor and a director of evangelization, respectively, they happen to know a lot! And, it’s funny to see how some of the struggles tired parents face are universal – as though they could apply to “tired Catholic pastors” or “tired Catholic parish lay ministers.” Perhaps there are some sequels to “The Prayer Book for Tired Parents” coming… In all seriousness, the concepts we cover in The Prayer Book for Tired Parents are all par ..read more

The Martyrdom of St. Lawrence | Hipólito de Rioja | Public Domain, from Wikimedia Commons “Turn me over – I’m done on this side!” – St. Lawrence, Deacon and Martyr I guess we should offer a disclaimer at the start of this reflection that we absolutely do not intend any irreverence toward the saints, especially those who were brutally martyred in defense of the Faith. But the story of St. Lawrence, deacon and martyr, lends itself to allowing a touch of humor. Lawrence was an archdeacon (head deacon) in the third century, when Christians faced relentless persecution in the Roman Empire. Lawrenc ..read more